A man carried an imitation handgun through a crowded shopping street sparking a huge armed police response. Jack Richards, 24, left onlookers "petrified" after brandishing the weapon in the middle of Queen Street in Cardiff city centre.
Richards, of Caerau Lane in Ely, was arrested after a "public order incident" in the capital on Monday, February 7, this year. Armed police attended the scene outside Superdrug at around 2.15pm with an eyewitness describing seeing eight police vehicles and around 20 officers on the street at the time of the incident. You can read more about that here.
Photos from the scene showed police making arrests in front of passing shoppers with Richards seen sitting on the ground in handcuffs outside the Superdrug store. A black and blue imitation BB handgun was also pictured discarded in the middle of the street with police standing around it.
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Richards, who admitted possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and assault by beating, appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Thursday to be sentenced. The court also heard that he had been subject to a community order at the time of the incident for assaulting an emergency worker as well as threatening behaviour, possession of Class B drugs, and failing to surrender to bail. He has also 12 previous convictions for a total of 23 offences.
Robert Chudleigh, defending Richards, accepted that a custodial sentence was required but asked the judge to make it as short as possible due to his client's personal circumstances. Read more of the latest news from courts across Wales by signing up to our newsletter.
Judge Richard Williams told Richards that his actions were "very serious" and that they had left a member of the public "petrified". Sentencing the 24-year-old he told him: "Courts must deal with criminal misconduct such as this with firm punishment. In any view this was an offence so serious that only a custodial sentence will suffice. Culpability was clearly high.
“You carried an imitation firearm which looked real. You used it in a busy city centre and your use of it was persistent. It was enough to petrify an onlooker and it also required a large armed police response. "
Richards was sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison. This total sentence includes eight months imprisonment for possessing an imitation firearm in a public place as well as another four months imprisonment after the judge revoked his community order. He received no separate penalty for the assault by beating charge.
